Birth Violence Detrimental To Mothers and Babies

The Association for Prenatal and Perinatal
Psychology and Health say, “Any violence which greets a
baby in the womb or around the time of birth will serve as a
silent and unconscious form of conditioning which acts like
a template for future relationships. This conditioning,
depending upon its frequency and severity, can affect a
person's physical and mental health for decades to come.”
Home Birth Aotearoa spokesperson Nadia Kersel adds that
“this goes for the birthing woman too – the residual
trauma from a violent birth can affect her, and her
parenting for many years”. She goes on to say that
“unfortunately, with the normalisation of medicalised
birth comes the acceptance of the medical violence inflicted
on mother and baby, threatening all levels of their
wellbeing.”

Home Birth Aotearoa (HBA) is a nationwide
collective of home birth support groups and associations who
value midwifery care in New Zealand. Every year on May 5,
the world celebrates International Day of the Midwife. This
year’s theme is “Midwives changing the world one family
at a time”. Some groups in NZ, including Home Birth
Aotearoa are extending this theme to include that “every
woman and every baby has a right to birth in the absence of
all forms of violence”.

A recent case in Brazil
highlights the reality of what obstetric violence in birth
can become. 29 year-old woman Adelir Carmen Lemos de Goés
was set upon by police in the middle of the night as she
laboured. She was verbally abused by police before being
taken to a hospital where she was forced, against her will,
into a caesarean section. This was done by court order,
under the guidance of her obstetrician who based the
decision for this coercive measure on the results of an
ultrasound scan that Lemos de Goés was neither permitted to
see nor discuss.

Mrs Kersel says that “In New Zealand,
because informed consent is a cornerstone of our healthcare
system, and because we have a midwifery-based maternity
system we could say that a case like Adelir’s would never
happen here, but we must take note. This level of coercion
is a reality for many women globally” and is the outcome
of “a system which views the rights of women to determine
the type of care they need for their bodies and babies as
negotiable”.

According to Mrs Kersel, “Medical, or
obstetric violence is not only this extreme. What violence
looks like in birth is the same as what generally would be
considered as a threat to overall wellbeing”. This
includes, but is not limited to: intimidation, coercion,
misinformation, disempowering language and having one’s
senses and physical wellbeing undermined and threatened. In
their work to support home birth at a community level, HBA
have spoken to many women about their births and have heard
hundreds of birth stories. What becomes evident is that
coercion, intimidation and physical injury is extremely rare
in home birth “home birth is, in essence, non-violent”
they say.

HBA assert that at the core of the home birth
experience is self-determination - that of the parents and
their wider whanau. “When self-determination is present,
violence is absent” they say . “As parents and their
whanau become clear about their accountability, they are
empowered to minimise or avoid circumstances that may be
damaging to their baby’s, or their own wellbeing”. For
example, a mother who is self-determining in her birth at
home, can choose who enters her birth space, calling only on
the people who are committed to her baby’s welfare and
happiness, as well as that of their wider
whanau.

Midwifery support can also be key - Midwives
trained in normal, natural birth and who are open to the
myriad of experiences and possibilities within it are well
equipped to support and help create a non-violent birth for
expectant mothers, their babies and their families.

In
honour of International Day of the Midwife, HBA are
releasing a postcard through which home birthing women and
their whanau are encouraged to express their sentiments of
gratitude toward their midwives and the New Zealand College
of Midwives. The postcard, available in print and online,
positively reinforces the gentle and respectful care that
can be made available by choosing a midwife as an LMC, and
by choosing home birth.

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